New Rules, New Teams, Live Shows, And More: The Dozen Season II Preview

We are BACK!

The Dozen: Trivia Competition Season II debuts tomorrow morning at 10|9c (we may be changing the air times of matches, but stay tuned for that) as the DEFENDING CHAMPION Big Screamin' Honkers take on the FORMER #1 OVERALL Frank & the Frankettes.

Everything about The Dozen you know and love will remain the same, however, we are adding new teams, new rules, and a few extra things that should get you all fairly excited.

Because I am a nice guy, here is a very short run-through of what to expect to year (followed by a far more detailed version)…

THE SEASON II SCHEDULE

  • All 12 teams will return (with only Team Minihane replacing members)
    • Anywhere from three to eight news teams will be added
      • These teams will not make their debut until August and September
  • No set schedule (sorry, it is impossible), but teams are expected to play at least six times
  • Matches will still air on TUESDAY and THURSDAY at 10|9c, though the time may change
    • Matches are still taped beforehand (sorry, live looks like dogshit) with an improved layout
  • The season begins in July of 2021 and will wrap with the Tournament II in May of 2022
    • July will be a "showcase" month for the returning teams, with rankings beginning in August
  • The "regular-season title" will be THE CROWN
    • This will begin in August, as teams challenge the top-ranked, crown-holding team
    • The winner of THE CROWN will be determined at the ALL-STAR BREAK in February
      • The final team to hold THE CROWN gets an automatic bye in the Tournament II
  • There will be a four-team ALL-STAR TOURNAMENT in February; details to come soon
  • Rule and concept change for niche categories, making it more strategic and challenging
  • We will be doing some matches LIVE IN PERSON
    • Details to come, but you will be able to attend these matches in person

THE SEASON II SCHEDULE

JULY 2021: The season kicks off with a SHOWCASE of last year's Tournament teams. There will be no rankings, no voting, just straight-up matches as teams kick back into gear.

AUGUST 2021: Polls will open for fan voting, and the first rankings will debut as the RACE FOR THE CROWN begins. The top-ranked team will be the initial holders of THE CROWN. Teams ranked two through six can challenge the top-ranked team for a title match, and the right to steal the crown. Rules will be set in terms of how many times the top-ranked team and crown holder can be challenged in a given month. The team that holds and wins the crown by the ALL-STAR TOURNAMENT in February will receive an automatic bye in THE DOZEN: TRIVIA TOURNAMENT II in May of 2022. Think of this as a sort of "regular-season title" and a new way to break up a long season. New teams will also begin to debut in the month of August, as we expect around half a dozen new entries into the league.

FEBRUARY 2022: The halfway mark of the season hits, as we have a four-team ALL-STAR TOURNAMENT, with details to come. This is going to be fucking awesome, but all details will be under wraps for a little while. With the RACE FOR THE CROWN over, the rankings will now reflect the push for THE DOZEN: TRIVIA TOURNAMENT II.

APRIL 2022: Teams will begin clinching spots in THE DOZEN: TRIVIA TOURNAMENT II, and we will likely see three matches per week as the bubble teams battle it out for the final spots. The size of the tournament is to be determined, but expect a 12-team field as of right now.

MAY 2022: It all comes down to this as THE DOZEN: TRIVIA TOURNAMENT II takes place.

NICHE CATEGORY CHANGES

I'll keep this simple. Niche categories are here to stay. Let's call a spade a spade, one of my goals with this show is to make sure matches are close and competitive. Keeping niche categories gives teams a little boost, but I also want to make sure they don't become a boring mess as we saw in the Tournament this past May. So here is what will happen…

  1. For each match, teams will select their three ideal niche categories
  2. They will swap the list of three with their opponents
  3. Their opponent will select which niche category they will receive
  4. Round 6 will be the "niche round"
  5. Teams will find out mid-match which niche category their opponent selected for them
  6. There will essentially be two categories in Round 6
  7. A team will only receive their niche category as their question
  8. Teams can still, obviously, steal if their opponent misses their niche question
  9. The round will be worth two points and cannot be double

We tested this already and it seemed to work well! As always, if anything happens, we may tweak this along the way. But give it a chance, for now!

THE TEAMS

A reminder of the teams competing in The Dozen: Trivia Competition Season II…

  • Big Screamin' Honkers (DEFENDING CHAMPIONS)
    • Coley Mick, Robbie Fox, Ben Mintz
  • Team Chicago
    • Carl, Chief, White Sox Dave
  • The Experts
    • PFT Commenter, Brandon Walker, Fran Mariano
  • Frank & the Frankettes
    • Nick, KB, Frank the Tank
  • Gen XYZ
    • Large, Vibbs, Jake Marsh
  • Team Minihane
    • Kirk Minihane, Pat, Trysta Krick
  • The Misfits
    • Dante, Reags, Hank
  • Nightmare
    • Feits, Kayce, Captain Cons
  • Smockin
    • KenJac, Donnie, Mark Titus
  • Spittin Chiclets
    • RearAd, Biz, Ryan Whitney
  • Uptown Balls
    • Smitty, Tommy Smokes, Glenny Balls
  • The Yak
    • Big Cat, Rone, Steven Cheah
  • Team Ziti
    • Dave Portnoy, Eddie, Clem

We also have a handful of people who might be forming new teams: Rico Bosco, Kelly Keegs, Coach Duggs, Big Ev, Joey Mulinaro, Chris Castellani, Uncle Chaps, Kate, Billy Football, Chef Donny, RDT, Lil Sas, Owen, Trent, Frankie, Hubbs, and more. Not all of them will get new teams, but those are the free agents that have begun to make some noise.

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We have much more to come! For now, make sure to follow The Dozen on Twitter and Instagram for updates every single day.

Also, buy some merch!